Question CPU Spec - Difference from the shop claim to its real output?

Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.

Dave Russo

Level 22
Thread author
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Forum Veteran
May 26, 2014
1,145
1
6,460
2,068
Connecticut
Does anyone know, if specs. such as computer speed are often lies? My computer claimed it can reach 4.8 but never goes over 4.67(though this is a minimal difference), why the difference from the shop claim to its real output?
 
Several factors can affect max clock frequency or boost. It can be limited in the BIOS or could be a thermal issue.
Usually maximum boost is limited to 1 or 2 CPU cores during light single thread loads.

If you are running an AMD system make sure your have updated the motherboard chipset driver to the latest version.

Use HWINFO64 to check what the max clock speed is after using the PC for a few minutes.
5600X 5025MHz CPUZ 700 ST HWINFO64 FULL 2023.jpg
 
Does anyone know, if specs. such as computer speed are often lies? My computer claimed it can reach 4.8 but never goes over 4.67(though this is a minimal difference), why the difference from the shop claim to its real output?
It is very unlikely that computer manufacturers deliberately lie about the specs of their products. However, there are several factors that can affect the actual performance of a computer component, including the quality of the components, the configuration of the system, and the workload running at the time of measurement. In the case of the CPU speed, it is possible that you are not seeing the maximum frequency due to thermal restrictions or power limitations. You can use software tools such as CPU-Z or HWMonitor to check the actual clock speed of your processor and compare it to the specifications. It's also worth noting that CPU performance can vary depending on the model and generation, and benchmarks are often used to compare the performance of different processors.
 
May not be applicable here but sometimes you might wonder if those Spectre/Meltdown mitigations might be affecting general cpu performance. I know it does a bit for my Coffee Lake cpu--a little bit. I now have these disabled in the Registry.

Is this little app still relevant? InSpectre

Variations in silicon might also be a factor, I guess. By the way, my cpu claims it can go to 5.0 GHz, but only on two cores at a time. And HWiFO64 does document that. On all cores, it hits 4.8 GHz.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dave Russo
As the others have said, it's most likely because of thermal limitation, also keep in mind there can be some deviation between same CPUs in the manufacturing process.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Dave Russo